About one in eight home purchase contracts across the Washington, D.C., metro area, which includes Bethesda and Chevy Chase, fell through in September as mortgage rates hit their highest point in three years.
The cancellation rate reached 12.8% across the region, according to a Redfin housing market report released Monday, Oct. 12. Nationally, 14.5% of deals collapsed, the highest share on record outside the early pandemic months of 2020.
The 30-year mortgage rate climbed to 7.28% by the end of September, squeezing buyers already facing steep prices. The metro area's median sale price stood at $573,683, up 0.6% from a year earlier, according to Redfin.
Buyers pulled back. Showing activity across the D.C. metro fell 16.9% compared with September 2025, and new pending sales dropped 17.1% year over year, according to a separate Bright MLS report also released Oct. 12. Bright MLS pegged the metro's median sold price higher, at $610,000, reflecting differences in how the two services draw geographic boundaries.
Closed home sales in the D.C. metro fell 9.5% year over year, and pending sales dropped 10.8%, according to Redfin. Active listings, meanwhile, rose 9.9%. Bright MLS recorded an even larger inventory jump: active listings up 20.1% as of the end of August.
Chen Zhao, Redfin's head of economic research, said the shift is giving buyers room to negotiate.
"For buyers, less competition means more room to negotiate: on price, on closing costs, on repairs, and sometimes sellers even pay for a mortgage-rate buydown," Zhao said in the report.
Lisa Sturtevant, Bright MLS's chief economist, warned that affordability pressure is not easing. "With rates escalating quickly to close to 7.5%, more buyers are being priced out of the market," Sturtevant said. Bright MLS's outlook for the region projects that higher rates will lead to fewer transactions and local price weakening.
Nationally, 60.5% of homes that sold in September went for less than their original asking price. Nearly one in five sellers with active listings cut their price. Redfin described the conditions as "the strongest buyer's market on record."
No Bethesda-specific cancellation or pricing data was available in either report. The metro-wide figures include Montgomery County, but Bethesda's higher price points may not track the regional average.
Pending home sales declined in all 50 of the most populous U.S. metros in September, the first time that has happened since September 2023, the last sustained stretch above 7% rates.
